The Aging of America

The rising cost of Medicare is out of control, but not all of Medicare’s problems are the results of an ineffective system; some reasons are beyond our immediate control.  The aging of the baby boom generation, people born between the years 1946 and 1964, is the beginning of an unprecedented demographic shift in the United States.  In this shift the two fastest growing segments of American society will be the old (65 and over) and the very old (85 and over).  When Medicare was created in 1965, much of the baby-boom generation was still in the crib or elementary school.  Today, they are becoming eligible for the benefits program they paid into throughout their adult lives.

Thus the elderly population will soon be the largest segment of American society and all of them are fully entitled to publicly funded healthcare.  In addition, by nature the elderly are the least healthy segment of the population, meaning they receive the highest percentage of healthcare services in the country.  The impending growth in the elderly population, coupled with the cost of our technology’s ability to keep people alive longer than ever before means that the aging of America jeopardizes the future of the Medicare program and its beneficiaries.  As is, the Federal government and you the taxpayer cannot afford to provide the care it has promised to the elderly of this country.  Without responsible and thoughtful reform, we stand to leave future generations with a series of ethical dilemmas that have no easy solutions.

• The first baby-boomer will turn 65 on January 1, 2011 and become eligible for Medicare. ²⁵
• Between 1992 and 1996, average annual healthcare expenditures for individuals aged 65 and older were $7,365, but grew to $37,581 during their last year of life. ²⁶
• The “oldest old,” people over 85, are the fastest growing segment of the US population, growing from 3.7 million in 1996 to more than 18 million in 2050. ²⁷
• 100 years ago, the average male died before his 50th birthday.  By 2050, the average male will live to 80 and the average female will live to 84. ²⁸